fun2novel

A few words before I dig into the common route. Minato-soft is known primarily for its comedy/drama large-scale charages, Majikoi and Tsujidou-san. These two are characterized by a unique style of characterization that goes more for comic relief than is standard with most VN-makers, as well as a tendency toward over-powered heroines who can take on the world by themselves (all three main heroines of Tsujidou, Momoka in Majikoi, and Kirsti in this one). This one is no exception, so those who played Majikoi will probably be unsurprised by the 'feel' of the character and character interactions.

Common Route

On the other hand, unlike other Minato-soft VNs, this one's common route takes up over half of the game as a whole (close to to two-thirds). With another company this would probably not be so much of a downer, but considering the degree to which Minato-soft wrote each main heroine route on a medium to large scale in each of its previous works, this was more than a little disappointing. The common route is fairly long (think about 1.2 times as long as the average moege/charage common route) and is mostly made up of familiar Minatosoft-style fights, slice-of-life, etc. However, despite the fact that the bulk of the game is in the common route, it doesn't feel like there is all that much substance to it, sadly.

Kirsti

I'll be blunt. Kirsti herself is basically a Finnish Momoka with the best elements of Tsujidou and Rena grafted on (in other words, she has Momoka's type of power, with the other two's leadership capabilities). So, don't be surprised if she feels familiar after only a few scenes, because you aren't imagining it. Sadly, her route is... bland. Once actually on her path, I finished it in around an hour and a half... and there was none of the really cool drama I'm accustomed to seeing from main heroines in Minato Soft's games. They are either setting this game up for another huge fandisc or they departed from the best part of their formula, for whatever reason.


For Next time

Look forward to Naoko's and the Harem route next time.

First, the announcement.

After careful - extremely careful - consideration, I have chosen Nanairo Reincarnation as VN of the Year 2014. The runners-up were Semiramis no Tenbin and Bradyon Veda.


2014's top ten, based on quality with a 70% emphasis on story elements, a fifteen percent emphasis on sound, and a fifteen percent emphasis on visuals.

1. Nanairo Reincarnation
2. Bradyon Veda
3. Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai (yes, I didn't list this one as a runner-up, because I was physically incapable of doing so)
4. Semiramis no Tenbin
5. Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa
6. Satsukoi
7. Houkago no Futekikakusha
8. Hello, Lady
9. Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai
10. AstralAir no Shiroki Towa

Story element evaluations were split fifty-fifty between intellectual and emotional impact. Ideally, any given story should touch upon the intellect and the emotions, leaving an 'imprint' behind.

I keep getting questions like, 'Who are you?' and 'Why should I listen to you at all about VNs?'... not to mention questions that are a bit more personal. So, I thought I'd answer those questions I'm willing to answer (feel free to ask more in the comments, and I'll answer those that I can in a second post).

Full Handle Name: Clephas Aurenius

Handle Origin: A unique character I made up for a fictional fantasy universe some ten years ago. I've been using it as my sole handle for eight years now.

Age: 33

Country and State of origin: Texas in the United States

Hobbies: Gaming, VNs, reading (fiction and non-fiction), otakuism, mini-reviewing untranslated VNs, anthropology, linguistics, brewing rum and root beer, cooking, and attempting to define VN terms that are actually a lot more vague than I try to present them for the sake of convenience *smiles slyly*

Profession: ghost writer (don't ask me about this, look it up)

Dream: To build an underground house in a seismically inactive (inasmuch as that is possible) area and retire. Take a six-month trip to Japan and tour the hot springs, shrines, and temples.

Likes: Efficient and/or cunning work. People with a non-harmful sense of humor. Pragmatism. Chuuni-fiction, fantasy, science fiction. Good stories.

Dislikes: Wasting time (from my perspective). Being mentally inactive (this is actually painful for me). Foods with jalapeno or parsley in it. Sloppy work done when a more efficient method obviously exists. Political corruption (outside of reasonable limits).

Personality: I have a rather massive temper, that I manage to restrict through breathing exercises and violent video games. I value thinking as something that is both necessary and enjoyable. I am excessively introspective, to the degree of actively mocking myself and being self-derisive when I think I might have been in the wrong on some level. I am a natural troll who reformed himself as best as possible. I tend to think that everything is funny on some level, even my own stupidity and outright disaster. I am a recovering megalomaniac.

My role-play: The 'forums' Clephas is actually quite different from the original Clephas, in that he is a lot more comical and exaggerated. He is the megalomaniacal and overwhelmingly arrogant side of my personality, deliberately exaggerated to the very limits, to the point where it is actually funny. He is something of an insane deity who devours universes and envelops them in his infinite stomachs, using avatars to interact with those inside. He honestly thinks eating people (both whole and chewed) is an expression of love. He also does various seemingly (and most probably) meaningless things solely for the sake of his own amusement.

What Fuwanovel means to me: In a lot of ways, Fuwanovel is my last community. I've just seen too many otaku communities collapse under their own weight to willingly involve myself with several at once, anymore. In many ways, I joined Fuwa solely because I thought it would be fun to argue with Aaeru (and it was immensely fun). I respected her for the strength of her beliefs, even if I disagreed with her on a number of points (pragmatists rarely agree fully with any idealist). Fuwa now is the community I've come to love, with the people I've come to love (Marie, Tay, solidbatman, Nayleen, fun2novel, Flutterz, Zakamutt, Mephisto, etc. etc), and so I'm more or less in it for the long haul. I chose this community because it was a lot easier to talk about VNs here than in the more Jaded tlwiki-related communites.

What are VNs to me: I like VNs, both as an enjoyable storytelling medium and as one with an immense potential for growth (if someone can just kick the industry out of its nukige/moege and cookie-cutter chuunige rut). They are emotional and intellectual rides (better on the emotions in most cases), that frequently have an impact far out of proportion with their actual quality.

My VN Experience: Tsukihime was my first VN... and it stunned me when I first played it back in 2007. I immediately devoured every single translated VN, in a marathon that lasted about two months... then dove into my first untranslated - Jingai Makyou - on 9/14/2008. As I'd been fansubbing for over a year by then, I'd thought I had a full grasp on Japanese as a language... but it was a rather rude kick in the butt. Translation Aggregator with Jparser presented me with a challenge that allowed me to get around the lack of kanji knowledge on my part... in exchange for mastering how Japanese syllables were put together in reverse (normally a skill learned through kanji, rather than learning it first, then learning kanji).

A few last comments: No, I do not have and will never have a Facebook or Twitter account. If you really want to chat with me live, pm me and ask me to get on IRC (rizon). Do not ask me to help translate more than one scene of a moege, as doing more than that (even for a friend) would make me want to scream. I do not have a lot of free time, other than that which I use to play VNs, so no I don't go to otaku conventions. I can cook a traditional Japanese breakfast... but sadly, the only parts I really like are the natto, the miso soup, and the pickled vegetables (cooked fish that tastes like cooked fish makes me feel sick). I have a fourteen-year-old calico cat, whom I adore and who tolerates me as a favor to me as her devoted slave.

Vendetta

After playing this route, I am severely tempted to immediately abuse my authority as the master of this blog and just name Silverio Vendetta VN of the Month for February. However, that really would be an abuse, so meh.

Vendetta's route... let's just say it blows you away. The battles, the twists, and the overall awesomeness that accompany them are almost equivalent to that of Marie's or Rea's route in Dies Irae in impact. The way that so much of the cast evolves during the course of this particular path - Zephyr in particular - is just... superb.

In terms of narrative quality, this by far blows away the other two routes, which is no surprise, considering that Vendetta was marked as the true heroine from the beginning. As a heroine, she frequently comes across as being contrary or paradoxical in nature, but at heart, she is anything but. When it comes to Zephyr, she is love incarnate... though it is sometimes tough love (frequently).

...Zephyr really shows off his anti-hero nature in this route, especially at the end. He has a level of humanity a simple hero cannot match, and for all his flaws, he really is an awesome protagonist. Like most of Light's chuunige works, if you hear the description of the plot, you might think it was trite... but if you experience it, you feel nothing of the sort, lol.

Overall

Overall, I do think this game is one of the better VNs produced by Light since Dies Irae... in some ways much better than Senshinkan, which was last year's big hit. A lot of this is because the writers went out of their way to create an incredibly deep setting, with a unique culture, physics, and political dynamic.

There is definitely a sense of 'a science-fantasy Germany, fifteen hundred years in the future' to the setting, with Hitler replaced by a moral purist military ruler and war hero.

In terms of the battles, they managed to bring back the best of Dies Irae's battle narration style while escaping some of its flaws. It felt like they'd refined the style without falling into the trap of being unbalanced the way Zero Infinity did.

In terms of characters, they managed to create a much larger and more varied cast than is their wont, though they - as always - made a lot of oddball people (and not in a funny manner, for the most part).

The game's weakness and strength is in the difference in focus and detail between the routes. Because of the way the story is constructed, the Milly>Chitose>Vendetta play order is the only one you can take if you want to feel satisfied with all the routes. As a result, if you did play it in this order, it feels like the VN gets better with each route... but if you were to play it out of order, you'd probably get a bit frustrated, to say the least.

Overall, this was quite a satisfying experience.

Amatsu Oboro Chitose

Chitose is a nearly pure-blooded descendant of the people of Japan, a nation that has come to be worshiped as a god by many, because of the way its technology altered the face of the world and civilization. Her sub-family of the Amatsu, the Oboro, were the ones who were obsessed with justice and noblesse oblige, which shows really obviously in her daily actions and reactiions.

My first conclusion upon finishing her path was 'I am so glad I did Milly first'. Why? Simple. Chitose's path is a lot more obviously action-packed, with more terrible battles and insane twists and turns. It reveals the core elements that Milly's didn't touch upon, which makes me wonder why they didn't just go ahead and lock in a Milly>Chitose>Vendetta progression.

Chitose's path does leave a few elements revealed in Milly's path untouched, but the sheer action-packed brutality and melodrama is on a different scale. The fact that the protagonist's psychology is far different by the end than it is in Milly's path is another interesting issue, for those who like to see characters grow during the course of a story.

Chitose herself adds to this, as she is the epitome of the 'fighting heroine', fighting in such an overwhelming fashion that sometimes you can't help but laugh in excitement. It is so nice to have a heroine who stands at the protagonist's side - and sometimes ahead of him - rather than being dependent on him.

For chuunige fans, this is definitely a kami-route. Look forward to Vendetta's route, next time.

Common

This VN was made by the same team that did Zero Infinity and Electro Arms, and it shows (in some ways). They have definitely improved their character balance and the way they present them, as well as the overall storytelling. The common route is fairly long (think about ten hours for me, about the same amount of time it takes me to completely finish a small charage), and it covers a rather large amount of content (there is no wasted time in this game at all, and yet it still manages to be as long as any of the other VNs by this team).

For those who are unclear about the setting, it is based a thousand years after a disaster that ends our civilization, due to a huge breach in the dimensional walls that basically renders our most important technologies worthless, giving us the power of Astral instead.

First, the protagonist... Zephyr. He is the antithesis of a hero, to be blunt about it. His nature is very base (he isn't a rapist though), with a tendency to prefer self-protection above all other things... except when it comes to Milly, the adopted little sister who is the focus of his current existence. In battle, he tends to either be evading... or dismembering/decapitating his enemies, using insults, misdirection, and brutal tactics to take them down, without any trace of mercy whatsoever. To be blunt, in battle he is either running around or a cold-hearted killer, lol.

Second, the heroines... Milly, Chitose, and Vendetta. Milly is the protagonist's adopted little sister, with whom he escaped the massacre that killed her parents and over 73,000 others in a single night. She is kind-hearted, a skilled technician, and a natural sweetheart to everyone around her. She is literally incapable of hating anyone, as far as I can tell. Chitose is... Milly's opposite. She is aggressive, strong-willed, and utterly merciless with those she considers to be her enemies or those of the state. Vendetta... well, lets just say that Vendetta is a bit inscrutable, though she comes across as a nagging older sister most of the time.

Third, I think that whether you like this game is going to be primarily dependent on whether you can like the protagonist (if you are already able to read Light-style writing, that is, lol). For all that he is basically pond-scum (and quite well-aware of it), he grows on you once you get past it. The common route defies the usual classifications for the simple reason that Light action VNs tend to be a bit hectic, lol.

Milly

Milly, as described above, is the kind-hearted little sister. Her route is fairly heart-rending, if only because of the way things fall apart so fast, once they pass a certain point. Her route shows off a number of interesting characters, ranging from the hedonistic fist-fighter Asura to Milly's master as a technician, Jin.

As always, I'm avoiding spoilers, so it is hard to figure out what I can say... Milly's route definitely has impact. I cried numerous times along the way, and Milly does manage to escape being another Kasumi (reference to Dies Irae), in that she isn't hopelessly out of place in the story, despite being the only 'normal person' heroine.

It is a bit frustrating that none of the biggest mysteries get revealed, but the fights were brutal enough to satisfy my bloodlust, though they followed the usual pattern that Light prefers, of the protagonist almost always being at a horrible disadvantage.

The ending is quite satisfying, though bittersweet (you can't avoid lots of character deaths in Light VNs), and I honestly was happy with how it turned out for Milly and Zephyr, though I did think that falling short of actually finding out everything that was going on behind the scenes means you will probably have to play this one first to avoid feeling unsatisfied with it.